Dear members, Perhaps more than ever before I wish you all a safe and successful new year. No matter what business challenges face us, the most important thing is to keep yourselves, your families and colleagues safe and healthy over the coming months. 2020 is behind us and we should take advantage of what it taught us. Despite the difficulties of last year, it forced us all to change our ways and take advantage of the opportunities before us. For our part, thanks to the efforts of Kirsty and our members we have:
Successfully launched our virtual training programme that allowed us to half the price to members who also do not have the inconvenience of travelling and take days off work to attend these courses. Our lecturers are currently busy converting their courses to a virtual form and more will be launched during the coming months
Converted our annual gear conference to a virtual format, which was also a great success, free to members we attracted record numbers of attendees from home and abroad
Based on the success of the above, and to help our members as much as we can during the challenges of Covid 19, we have made the decision that for 2021 all BGA on-line training courses and the annual gear conference will be free to our members. The value of this benefit could not only recoup your membership fee but also enable and enhance your training programmes at no cost and minimal disruption. The first list of these free courses can be downloaded below and more will be added as they become available.
Going forward we will combine our virtual activities with face-to-face events recognizing the networking benefits of actually meeting people, something we are all looking forward to.
Furthermore, as another complimentary benefit to our members we have, in conjunction with BSI, funded on-line access to the 25 most important standards that affect our industry. Now all our members have free, 24/7 on-line access to the latest versions of these critical ISO BSI standards that would cost each member over £6500 to purchase. Now BGA members don’t have to worry about keeping up to date or having to purchase the latest versions of these necessary standards.
Again, we have funded our unique industry trade statistics document, that is only available to members. Containing data that is not only useful for developing strategy but also often critical in applying for government grants. Also, we continue to produce our unique and exclusive BGA literary review to make sure our members can conveniently keep up to date with the latest developments that affect our industry.
Finally let me thank you all for your continuing support of our organisation and the efforts of individuals in assisting our activities. We will continue to seek ways to help our members during the coming months and welcome any suggestions you may have. Also, we are more than happy to consider any individual issues you may have for 2021, please let us know of any specific concerns that we could help with.
Once again thanks for your support and please keep safe
Graham Penning OBE
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